Amphoriskos (Container for Oil)
5th-7th century
- Medium
- Glass, core-formed technique
- Classification
- Vessel
- Dimensions
- 5.1 × 4.4 × 4.4 cm (2 × 1 3/4 × 1 3/4 in.)
- Culture
- Mediterranean Region
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
- Credit line
- Gift of Theodore W. and Frances S. Robinson
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Initially affordable only among the wealthy, glass was used in ancient Rome as containers for oils, perfume, and tablewares. The word “amphoriskos”, Greek for “small amphora”, refers to this object’s shape, a miniature version of the two-handled metal or ceramic vessels that contained oil or wine. Core-formed glass was made by dipping a removable core that gives the vessel its shape into a molten glass mixture. The technical achievements and prestige of glass continued through the Byzantine period.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
